Chapter 26-Outsmarting The Smartest

Mariana Wilkins. The woman Alec had been looking for in London, the vampire who had turned Dave and his children. The one he thought knew something about me and Katherine.

And she was standing in my kitchen.

I thought about the things I could do. Call Alec? No, he’d been around me too much today. I needed to give him some space. Talk to Katherine? No, I didn’t trust Katherine much anymore. Then there was Great Aunt Harriet, but I didn’t think she’d appreciate my visits any more than she had before I was turned into a vampire. My only option left seemed to be to confront Mariana.

Well, that should be simple. Not. I’d known the woman for, what, two minutes? Not even. The look in her eyes told me that she had already figured out who I was, and something told me that she and Katherine had never got along very well.

“I’m hungry.” Nathen said, finally breaking the silence.

“Well, there’s ice cream in the freezer down in the basement. I’ll go get it.” Mariana said.

“I’ll help.” I followed Mariana downstairs.

“You must be the doppelganger.” She said with a forced smile.

“And you must be the original Wilkins vampire.” I said, not being able to think of anything better to say.

“So you’ve heard of me. I’m assuming you’ve met Katerina?”

“Mmhm.”

“Of course. How else would you have known about me?” she chuckled to herself. “Dave doesn’t like to talk about me much. I make him think of Isobel too much. Why, though, I don’t understand. I look nothing like my sister.” It was true. I’d seen pictures of Isobel, and she’d had darker blonde hair and hazel eyes. No one ever would have thought they were sisters. Cousins, maybe, but not sisters.

“Met any of the others?”

“What others?”

“You know. The people in the hole. Those others.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Figures. They turned you, right?”

“Yes.”

“I heard that the youngest one, Alec, stopped working for Damien. You ever met him?” How did she know about Alec? Again, was there some sort of secret network that vampires used to talk to each other and gossip? I didn’t say anything, but because of the fact that I was blushing like crazy and trying not to make direct eye contact with her, she could tell that I had, in fact, met Alec.

“How cute.” Mariana rolled her eyes and started walking up the old wooden stairs. I watched Mariana closely; I wasn’t sure whether I could trust her yet. The only thing I saw her do that was remotely strange was feed Nathen ice cream when it was already past his bedtime, which I guess was okay because it was Christmas.

After Nathen was in bed, I overheard Dave talking to Mariana about me.

“How could you betray my sister like this, Dave? Fall in love with a descendant of the woman who killed your ex wife, who’s daughter happens to be her doppelganger? Are you out of your mind? She could be spying on our family, reporting everything to Katherine and plotting to kill me too!”

“She’s just a kid, Mari. Calm down. She wouldn’t do that. She seems to have her head on straight, not possessed by the devil. You don’t need to call an exorcist.”

“What if I do? And now that she’s been invited into this house, Katherine is too. You know how it works!”

“Yes, I do. I was there. But that doesn’t mean Kieyra is the same as Katherine. It’s just…seeing her reminds me of Katherine, which reminds me of Isobel, which is kind of sending me off the deep end.”

“Great! We can work with that! Now, take all of that bottled up rage and use it to-”

“We’re not killing her!” It was then that I realized that maybe Dave wasn’t the bad guy. He was just afraid to trust me. Afraid that I was too much like Katherine to be his step-daughter.

“And why not!” They were yelling now, and I was surprised that it didn’t wake up Nathen or my mom, who’d fallen asleep in Nate’s bed.

“Because how would Janette like to marry the man who killed her daughter?!” Dave pulled a silver diamond ring out of his pocket and twirled it around in his fingers.

“It’s funny how fast you move on.” Mariana said angrily.

“She’s not like Katherine.” Dave mumbled.

“Oh, right, we’re trusting the thirteen year old now. I forgot.” Mariana rolled her eyes.

“I’m not like her.” Whoops. There goes my cover.

“Oh, really? Prove it.” Mariana snapped.

“I…well, I don’t know how. All I can say is Katherine’s a manipulative liar, and I need help with a plan to fool her.” I wasn’t sure that they would help me, but it was worth a try. Mariana seemed to relax slightly.

“Go on.”

“Well, you see…you guys know about the sacrifice, right?”

“Ah, the only revenge my sister got on Katherine.” Mariana smiled.

“And about how all of Damien and his minions at the time would die if the sacrifice didn’t happen unless Damien died?”

“Yes.” Dave and Mariana said in unison.

“Well, Katherine was going to hide me until the summer solstice when Damien and the minions died.”

“That’s the first thing Katherine’s said in three hundred years that’s made sense. What’s wrong with that?”
”Um…well…it’s hard to explain.” Mariana was completely puzzled, but it only took Dave a few seconds to understand.

“Alec. I should have known.” Dave grumbled.

“Oh, doppelganger’s got a crush on the kid?”

“Yeah. Um. Sure. Okay.” I said. As if I was about to tell Mariana that he was in love with me and we were dating. I exchanged a “don’t you dare tell her” look with Dave, that he thankfully understood and didn’t mention anything to Mariana.

“Anyways, I need some way that I can kill Damien without Katherine knowing I know her plans.”

“Outsmart the smartest.” Mariana said, shrugging.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“Well, Katherine’s smart, right? And since you and Katherine are pretty much the same, I’m guessing you think the same. So, if you know how she thinks, figure out how you would fool yourself and apply the same concept to her.”

“That’s…That’s actually not a bad idea.” I thought about it for a second. The only way to outsmart Katherine seemed to be to think like her…and if I could think like Katherine, I could figure out how to deceive her. Use her own tactics against her.

“Hmm. Maybe you actually are more trustworthy than I thought.” Mariana turned to Dave.

“Fine, you have my permission to marry Janette. Just know that if this ends badly, it’s on you.” With that, Mariana stormed out of the house. I turned to Dave.

“Thanks for not telling her about Alec.” I said.

“It was for the best. Even though I’m not your father, I’ll still treat you like one of my own. Isobel would have wanted that.” Dave sighed.

“Tell me about her. Isobel, I mean. What was she like?”

“Well, she was beautiful, for one thing. Blonde, green-eyed, tall. She could have been a model. She was kind-a little too kind. Forgave all of Katherine’s mistakes and selfishness. She was…real. Don’t get me wrong-I love your mom very much. But she’ll never take the place of Isobel.”

“If you want to marry my mom, you can. I’m sure she’ll like that. You have my blessings. Just don’t make the mistakes my dad did, okay?” Dave chuckled.

“He is a bit loony, isn’t he.”

“Very much so.” I smiled. I guess this was the first time I’d ever really talked to Dave-he’d always been the enemy in my eyes. Now I realized that all he’d ever wanted was my mom-it was never a ploy to get revenge on Katherine. He actually cared. As I started up the stairs to go to bed, Dave tapped my shoulder lightly.

“Yes?” I asked. Dave sighed.

“As hard as it is for me to say this, if you want to be with that Alec kid you can.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Dave?” Dave laughed.

“It seems only fair that if you’re willing to get along with me for your mom’s sake, I’ll at least try to get along with him.” I smiled.

“Thanks.”